The Socratic Dialogue: Get Up! Act Now! Seriously, YOUTH can do it!
Jessica Carter and Kelly Royds grapple with how young people can play a part in shaping global environmental solutions.
In September, the Australia Youth Climate Coalition and World Vision Australia banded together to bring young Aussies the Youth Decide vote on climate change.
The vote asked young people to decide what kind of world they want to live in. More than anything else, Youth Decide sent one particularly loud message: it is young people, not politicians, who will live with the consequences of environmental inaction. According to this logic, young people have the greatest interest in saving the planet. The question is, do we have the power to do it?
Michel Foucault once said, “we know very well that it is not those who govern who hold power”. But if power does not reside with those who govern, then where does it lie?
The most obvious response is that in a democracy, the hands of those who govern await the verdict of a voting public. But as voters, and as young people, we too often feel disempowered to effect direct and lasting change.
Between elections, we witness business, non-governmental organisations and various interest groups vying for attention and influence over agendas. Whose agenda and whose attention is sought varies depending on the issue and the group itself. The many possible answers still leave us uncertain as to where power really lies.
As voters, and as young people, we too often feel disempowered to effect direct and lasting change.
But this question is vital if we want to effect change, and nowhere is it more pertinent to ask than in light of the lack of action we have seen on environmental issues.
In December of this year, nations from around the world will meet in Denmark for the United Nations Climate Change Conference. The conference will not only be attended by nation-states, but also by UN bodies and non-governmental organisations. Collectively, these groups will negotiate and discuss one of the most momentous decisions that confront us: how can we deal with climate change?
Absent from Copenhagen, but implied in the ‘we’, are Australian voters and young people. We might not get a seat at the Conference, but we are still stakeholders in the decision-making process. In the hands of national governments alone it is likely that environmental issues will continue to be sidelined by economic interests, as we have seen in the carbon emissions debate. Hence, interest groups, individuals and NGOs that advocate alternatives are critical because they have the potential to use power as a vehicle for change, rather than as an incidental product of dominant political and economic structures.
GetUp is the perfect example of an organisation attempting to use power as a tool for action. Disappointed in Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s failure to live up to his commitment to act on climate change, GetUp has launched a door-knocking and email campaign that hopes to use the next federal election to pressure the Labor government into action. The organisation issued an online survey that found its members are prepared to take their vote away from Labor, the political party popular with Australian youth, if the party does not take action soon. In an interview with The Australian in May, Simon Sheikh, the organisation’s national director, argued GetUp’s campaign channelled the voter’s power in a way the Prime Minister could not afford to ignore: “In the lead-up to Copenhagen, who is he going to listen to? Big polluters or people who voted for him?”
Campaigns like those run by GetUp and Youth Decide realise the potential for young Australians to influence the Government’s environmental agenda. Part of this strategy is based on a hunch that young people will come together and collectively fight for the environment.
In splutters and bursts, this is beginning to happen. For example, Act Now, run by the Inspire Foundation, is another online community that aims to create opportunities for young people to change their world. This organisation uses new media to inform and inspire young Aussies to take action on social and environmental issues. It recognises the importance of building a community of young people in order to generate social, political and environmental change.
Both Act Now and Get Up are examples of communities that remain crucial to the environmental movement. They have power because they are creating new channels for change. Here, power is not just a product; it is also a harbinger of change and a tool for mobilisation. In a democracy like ours, Foucault’s definition sticks: power does not automatically reside in the hands of those who govern. Power cannot exist unless there are communities through which to channel it. These communities are continuing to take shape, both online and offline. Young people have the most to lose but we also have the greatest incentive to act: we need to use the power we have and act now to shape environmental solutions, beyond the ones proposed by our Government.
